Waste of a Lovely Night
by CloudF11
Summary: When Piper Wright and Jack Schmidt are left stranded by the vertibird that was supposed to pick them up, they are forced to wait for their ride home to return- together, regrettably. / Happy Valentine's Day! This was also posted on AO3- my account goes by the same name on AO3. Inspired by "A Lovely Night" from the La La Land soundtrack.


_Oh, this just great, isn't it?_

"Great, now we're stuck here," Jack groaned, sliding down the building's wall and into a sitting position while Piper did the same. "How the hell does a damn Vertibird leave you behind?"

Piper ignored her companion's complaining as she subconsciously drummed her hands against her legs and on the ground. The sun was slowly setting in the west, setting the sky behind it ablaze with bright oranges, yellows, reds, and even purples. The view was a beautiful one, but the two both knew deep down that they wouldn't get to enjoy it as much as they would want to. As night began to fall, the monsters that would retreat during the day would finally come out. To make it worse, they had to be stuck here with each other, and not in Sanctuary off doing their own things.

And it wasn't necessarily the monsters of the night that bothered either of them; they were well prepared, after all. They just weren't prepared to spend possibly hours _together._

The two looked over at each other for barely even a second before looking away, focusing on the darkening sky. The growing silence between them became more apparent, and began to swallow them whole as both of their thoughts ran wild. Silence used to be comfy for them before, why the hell was it different now?

 _Come on,_ Piper thought. _This entire thing is a waste. You really think you two would_ ever _work out? Because it wouldn't._ Her brows furrowed, her anger with herself nearly boiling over as she cracked her fingers.

"Piper," Jack began, nearly startling her. "Stop, please. It's irritating." At his comment, she cracked her fingers even louder in spite of him, to which he growled in response. _Yeah, it would never work out. Right? Right._ She didn't want to fall for him. Yet, here she was, having an inner argument with herself. _You're not falling for him! You'd really want someone like him, someone who gets so pissed off over stupid things? You're not going to fall for him, you would never fall for him._

Piper's conflicting thoughts were finally distracted by the sounds of clicking coming from Jack's Pip-Boy. She thought it would be that Geiger counter going off, but on further inspection, he was flipping through the multiple screens. As he reached the radio screen, he switched on the classical radio before taking off the Pip-Boy and placing it in between the two. The sounds of what sounded like a piano played through the Pip-Boy's speaker. And those lovely sounds of the piano just happened to turn into a song that seemed to express what they were both thinking.

 _The sun is nearly gone, the lights are turning on, a silver shine that stretches to the sea. We've stumbled on a view, that's tailor-made for two. What a shame those two are you and me._

Jack hummed along to the tune, while Piper leaned her head against the wall, listening intently to the words.

 _Some other girl and guy would love this swirling sky, but there's only you and I, and we've got no shot. This could never be, you're not the type for me-_

The voice of a woman pitched in for a second before returning to the man's voice. - _Really?_

 _And there's not a spark in sight, what a waste of a lovely night._

Piper tapped her foot along with the beat of the jazzy and much relatable song. The masculine voice switched off to the feminine one.

 _You say there's nothing here? Well, let's make something clear, I think I'll be the one to make that call- But you'll call?_

 _And though you look so cute in your polyester suit- It's wool._

 _You're right, I'd never fall for you at all. And maybe this appeals to someone not in heels, or any girl who feels there's some chance for romance. But, I'm frankly feeling nothing- Is that so?_

 _Or, it could be less than nothing- Good to know, so you agree? That's right, what a waste of a lovely night._

The song evolved into a faster paced beat, one that would make you want to get up and dance. Jack hummed along with the instrumental, and eventually whistling. "I thought you couldn't whistle?" Piper spoke up just enough to be barely heard over the music.

"I thought I couldn't either."

"Well, I preferred it when you _couldn't_ whistle," Piper retorted, getting back at him for commenting about her cracking her fingers. He simply rolled his eyes before shutting up, much to her delight. The music continued on as Piper looked back the sky. The sun was hiding behind the hills and buildings now, the sky faded into a deep purple and pink color. _If only the entire Commonwealth was this beautiful,_ she thought.

Looking over at Jack, she made a final decision: she wasn't going to fall for the pre-war Vault dweller. Never in a million years would she fall for him. There was nothing in between them- it would never work out. Piper looked back down at her hands, cracking her fingers again.

The song ended the way it started with the piano. An instrumental song soon followed it, only to be cut off and grabbing the reporter's attention. Looking up, Piper saw her companion switching the dials before replacing it on his left wrist. "What are you-"

"Our ride is here," Jack pointed out, motioning towards the buzzing hunk of metal that flew towards them.

"Thank God," Piper mumbled, grabbing her bag and following Jack as the vertibird landed, both boarding it.

The sky finally faded out to a dull blackish blue color. As Piper gripped onto her seat for dear life, she could only think of one thing: It was, indeed, a waste of a lovely night.

* * *

 _Happy Valentine's Day._


End file.
